Would like to start this blog post by (again) apologizing for this late post. The last week has been quite hectic, but I'm glad I was able to slot out some time to work on this reading.
After an initial skim of the topics of each of this week's reading materials, it's clear to me there is a clear contrast between the laws put in place to protect LGBTQ youth, and the actual realities found in schools.
The official guidance put in place for Rhode Island Elementary and Secondary Education suggests a staunch stance against descrimination:
"The purpose of this guidance is to... foster an educational environment that is safe and free from descrimination for all students, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression..."
The guidance goes on further to suggest ways that LGBTQ youth can be supported, such as offering gender neutral bathrooms and alternatives, as well as protecting information about a student's orientation if it would endanger their living situation with their parents or caretakers.
The suggestion is a highly inclusive environment for RI LGBTQ youth-- but reality is far away from suggestion. There are laws in place to help protect youth, but whether or not schools follow through on these, and whether or not teachers and staff are aware of these laws, are a completely different story. I can say for certain with experience that I've heard numerous older teachers in my building say things about the LGBTQ movement that are at best microagressions. Teachers and students are not immune to their own prejudices or the prejudices that influence their families, and I think the second reading, "Queering Our Schools", is indicative of this.
I think the start of the reading says it best: "The terrain, in terms of legal rights and public conversation, is shifting rapidly...At the same time, homophobia, mysogyny, and other forms of hatred are alive and well, and even progressive schools and classrooms have a long way to go..."
The editors of "Queering Our Schools" argument statement is that while there are laws in place to protect against descrimination, there are still struggles and hurdles to cross when it comes to creating safe environments for descriminated groups, most especially in classrooms. My question is this: how can we create an environment safe for LGBTQ youth not only in the classroom, but in their homes as well? The addition of the community and families surrounding schools, as well as their own held prejudices, make the matter of making inclusive classrooms extremely diffficult.
"When you invite kids to talk openly and ask questions about gender and sexuality, you have to be ready for whatever happens. It's trickier than geometry"
If there were perhaps a demonstration of a fully functioning, inclusive classroom, or a completely inclusive school, might that open the door for parents and oppossing groups to see things differently? I feel as though a public school is a pillar of a local community, and perhaps focusing on upending a school to be completely inclusive might lead to better things.
How can we create these inclusive settings? "Queering Our Schools" suggests normalizing discussion and the suggestion of LGBTQ themes and struggles. Normalizing discussion and ideas such that they may repeatedly crop up, might challenge preconceptions that teachers, students, and parents hold surrounding inclusivity.
I think this is further supported by the other material for this week's reading, the "Woke Read Aloud" video, featuring a children's book promoting the discussion of different and preferred pronouns. A material such as this-- something that is welcoming and inclusive-- is a great starting point to not only discussion surrounding pronouns, but normalizing the concept in general. I love how the teacher in the video breaks down the concept even further, into something that is completely digestible not only to a child, but their parents as well. Granted, I don't know how many conservative parents would be showing their kids "Woke Read Alouds", but in a classroom setting this would be an excellent opportunity for discussion and normalization.
My final question of discussion is this: how can I create a better inclusive setting in my classroom, to facilitate discusison? I'm specifically a tech ed teacher, and I am trying to think of ways that I could perhaps promote that kind of discussion in some of my lessons.
Again this week, I am stuck thinking of what I could possibly hyper-link or attach as an image to this discussion. I was drawn back to this wonderful game I had played, "Celeste".
The game's story, about a youth's climb up a perilous mountaintop, is actually an alegory for the struggle of trans youth. The character is ambiguously gendered, and various parallels are drawn between their struggle climbing and the struggles of trans youth. "This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb" referring to those who had died on their transitioning journey-- deaths that may have been prevented if there were proper support systems and environments for trans youth to thrive in.
Slightly unrelated, but the game's soundtrack is great too. I attached one of my favorite tracks below.
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